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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (by William Kamkwamba)
from $12.99
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William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. But William had read about windmills, and he dreamed of building one that would bring to his small village a set of luxuries that only 2 percent of Malawians could enjoy: electricity and running water. His neighbors called him misala—crazy—but William refused to let go of his dreams. With a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks; some scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves; and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plan to forge an unlikely contraption and small miracle that would change the lives around him. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a remarkable true story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling adversity. It will inspire anyone who doubts the power of one individual's ability to change his community and better the lives of those around him.
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A Daughter's Legacy (by Pamphilia Hlapa)
$20.50
A Daughter's Legacy is the story of Kedibone's journey from childhood to parenthood, from the dusty streets of her home village to the modern worlds of university and working life. Determination and resilience battle with fear and insecurity in Kedibone's searing engagement with relationships and personal growth. This novel is a bold and necessary statement that exposes the taboos and abuse that a male-dominated culture allows, if not engenders. It breaks the silence and connivance in a way that has never been done before.
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The Shackled Continent (by Robert Guest)
$15.00
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A former Africa editor for The Economist, Robert Guest addresses the troubled continent's thorniest problems: war, AIDS, and above all, poverty. Newly updated with a preface that considers political and economic developments of the past six years, The Shackled Continent is engrossing, highly readable, and as entertaining as it is tragic. Guest pulls the veil off the corruption and intrigue that cripple so many African nations, posing a provocative theory that Africans have been impoverished largely by their own leaders' abuses of power. From the minefields of Angola to the barren wheat fields of Zimbabwe, Guest gathers startling evidence of the misery African leaders have inflicted on their people. But he finds elusive success stories and examples of the resilience and resourcefulness of individual Africans, too; from these, he draws hope that the continent will eventually prosper. Guest offers choices both commonsense and controversial for Africans and for those in the West who wish Africa well.
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The Memory of Love (by Aminatta Forna)
$14.95
Since its publication in hardcover, Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love has been hailed as a book of rare beauty and importance, and has been shortlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction and selected for the January 2011 Indie Next List. With astounding depth and elegance, it takes the reader through the haunting atmosphere of a country at war, delicately intertwining the powerful stories of two generations. In contemporary Freetown, a devastating civil war has left an entire populace with secrets to keep. In the capital hospital Kai, a gifted young surgeon is plagued by demons that are beginning to threaten his livelihood. Elsewhere in the hospital lies Elias Cole, a man who has stories to tell from the country’s turbulent postcolonial years that are far from heroic. As past and present intersect, Kai and Elias are drawn unwittingly closer by Adrian, a British psychiatrist with good intentions, and into the path of one woman at the center of their stories. A work of breathtaking writing and rare wisdom, The Memory of Love seamlessly weaves together the lives of these three men to create a story of loss, absolution, and the indelible effects of the past—and the very nature of love.
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The Madonna of Excelsior (by Zakes Mda)
$15.00
"A generous, patient, wry and intelligent voice...[that] suggests not just a writer who can seduce us through beautiful language and unfailing humor. We also encounter a writer who has the power to shock and frighten us, to astound and anger and unsettle us...In short, his is a voice for which one should feel not only affection but admiration." --Neil Gordon, New York Times Book Review Selection, Summer Reading, New York Times Book Review In 1971, nineteen citizens of Excelsior in South Africa's white-ruled Free State were charged with breaking apartheid's Immorality Act, which forbade sex between blacks and whites. Taking this case as raw material for his alchemic imagination, Zakes Mda tells the story of one irrepressible fallen madonna, Niki, and her family, at the heart of the scandal.
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Double Yoke (by Buchi Emecheta)
$13.50
Set on the campus of a Nigerian university, Double Yoke tells the story of two undergraduates who must confront the conflicting demands of tradition and modernity. While Nko pursues an education despite the resistance of those who feel a woman's identity is assumed in traditional marriage, Ete Kamba's love for her is severely tested as he is himself locked into the rigid attitudes from which Nko is attempting to break free. Nko must further contend with unscrupulous professors who would take advantage of her tenuous role as a woman in a male-dominated environment. As the author candidly portrays the status of women in emerging African nations, the choices facing Ete Kamba and Nko are neither clearcut nor perfect. In Double Yoke, Buchi Emecheta faces them head on.
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Indigo: In Search of the Color That Seduced the World (by Catherine E. McKinley)
$17.00
Brimming with rich, electrifying tales of the precious dye and its ancient heritage, "Indigo "is also the story of a personal quest: Catherine McKinley is the descendant of a clan of Scots who wore indigo tartan; Jewish "rag traders"; a Massachusetts textile factory owner; and African slaves--her ancestors were traded along the same Saharan routes as indigo, where a length of blue cotton could purchase human life. McKinley's journey in search of beauty and her own history leads her to the West African women who dye, trade, and wear indigo--women who unwittingly teach her that buried deep in the folds of their cloths is all of destiny and the human story.
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Africa Book Club Membership Plans
from $12.60
Save 20%
Joining the Africa Book Club couldn’t be easier, and best of all, there’s something for everyone, from the casual browser looking to explore the world of African writing to the Afrophile wanting to read all that’s exciting and new from the continent. Simply choose the membership that suits you. Discover the best of African writing and keep on top of the latest book releases by your favorite African authors. Get special offers and discounts on classics, bestsellers, and recently released books. Save up to 35 percent off recommended retail prices by selecting one of our three premium membership plans, which start at just $15.75 per month. All club members are automatically signed up to receive our monthly award winning newsletter.
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The Other Crucifix (by Benjamin Kwakye)
$17.95
Praised as one of the most accomplished of a new generation of African novelistsżand perhaps the most important Ghanaian writer since Ayi Kwei ArmahżBenjamin Kwakye establishes a powerful connection with the reader in his story of a young African manżs immigrant experience.The protagonist in The Other Crucifix immerses himself in American college life, a new life that alienates him in more ways than one from his native Africa. As the years pass, memories of Ghana fade until his uncleżs death in a coup dżetat triggers a crucial reawakening.
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A Dry White Season (by Andre Brink)
$13.99
As startling and powerful as when first published more than two decades ago, André Brink's classic novel, A Dry White Season, is an unflinching and unforgettable look at racial intolerance, the human condition, and the heavy price of morality. Ben Du Toit is a white schoolteacher in suburban Johannesburg in a dark time of intolerance and state-sanctioned apartheid. A simple, apolitical man, he believes in the essential fairness of the South African government and its policies—until the sudden arrest and subsequent "suicide" of a black janitor from Du Toit's school. Haunted by new questions and desperate to believe that the man's death was a tragic accident, Du Toit undertakes an investigation into the terrible affair—a quest for the truth that will have devastating consequences for the teacher and his family, as it draws him into a lethal morass of lies, corruption, and murder.
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Nightmare on the River Nile: Abducted by the LRA (by Suzanna E. Nelson)
$12.00
Elated after finishing high school exams, Edgar and his longtime friends are excited about their future and looking forward to their long vacation. Unbeknownst to them fate has other plans. Edgar's life turns into a living nightmare when, on his way home, his bus is stopped by the LRA rebels in northern Uganda. Along with other passengers, most of whom are students, Edgar is abducted and taken to the rebel headquarters deep in the mountains of southern Sudan. Things turn even worse when, instead of being forced to become a soldier,he is sold into slavery. His life is changed forever. Edgar's friends learn of his fate and embark on a very difficult and unpredictable rescue mission. With the help of a fellow captive, Edgar attempts a daring and dangerous escape, knowing that his re-capture would end in a fate worse than death. But will he succeed? The dramatic finale awaits you as you follow Edgar while he is being chased down by warlords whose mission is to return him to the slave owners and collect a large reward. The story gives readers an insight into the pain and suffering that Edgar endures at the hands of his captors; and his unshakable faith and hope of eventually being free. Through Edgar's story, the reader will come to understand the resilience that human beings can exhibit under extreme circumstances, the power of faith and the meaning of true friendship. Looking collectively at the people who are involved in Edgar's captivity and the ones who assist him, we are reminded that people are capable of good or evil, regardless of color or creed.
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The Translator (by Leila Aboulela)
$10.00
Save 23%
American readers were introduced to the award-winning Sudanese author Leila Aboulela with Minaret, a delicate tale of a privileged young African Muslim woman adjusting to her new life as a maid in London. Now, for the first time in North America, we step back to her extraordinarily assured debut about a widowed Muslim mother living in Aberdeen who falls in love with a Scottish secular academic. Sammar is a Sudanese widow working as an Arabic translator at a Scottish university. Since the sudden death of her husband, her young son has gone to live with family in Khartoum, leaving Sammar alone in cold, gray Aberdeen, grieving and isolated. But when she begins to translate for Rae, a Scottish Islamic scholar, the two develop a deep friendship that awakens in Sammar all the longing for life she has repressed. As Rae and Sammar fall in love, she knows they will have to address his lack of faith in all that Sammar holds sacred. An exquisitely crafted meditation on love, both human and divine, The Translator is ultimately the story of one woman’s courage to stay true to her beliefs, herself, and her newfound love.
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Graceland (by Chris Abani)
$15.00
The sprawling, swampy, cacophonous city of Lagos, Nigeria, provides the backdrop to the story of Elvis, a teenage Elvis impersonator hoping to make his way out of the ghetto. Nuanced, lyrical, and pitch perfect, this is a remarkable story of a son and his father, and an examination of postcolonial Nigeria, where the trappings of American culture reign supreme.
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The Famished Road (by Ben Okri)
$14.00
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In the decade since it won the Booker Prize, Ben Okri's Famished Road has become a classic. Like Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, it combines brilliant narrative technique with a fresh vision to create an essential work of world literature. The narrator, Azaro, is an "abiku, a spirit child, who in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria exists between life and death. The life he foresees for himself and the tale he tells is full of sadness and tragedy, but inexplicably he is born with a smile on his face. Nearly called back to the land of the dead, he is resurrected. But in their efforts to save their child, Azaro's loving parents are made destitute. The tension between the land of the living, with its violence and political struggles, and the temptations of the carefree kingdom of the spirits propels this latter-day Lazarus's story.
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A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt: An African Memoir (By Toyin Falola)
$24.00
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A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt gathers the stories and reflections of the early years of Toyin Falola, the grand historian of Africa and one of the greatest sons of Ibadan, the notable Yoruba city-state in Nigeria. Redefining the autobiographical genre altogether, Falola miraculously weaves together personal, historical, and communal stories, along with political and cultural developments in the period immediately preceding and following Nigeria's independence, to give us a unique and enduring picture of the Yoruba in the mid-twentieth century. This is truly a literary memoir, told in language rich with proverbs, poetry, song, and humor. Falola's memoir is far more than the story of one man's childhood experiences; rather, he presents us with the riches of an entire culture and community-its history, traditions, pleasures, mysteries, household arrangements, forms of power, struggles, and transformations.
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Keys in the River: Notes from a Modern Chimurenga (by Tendai Mwanaka)
$16.95
Keys in the River is a cycle of stories about economically-challenged, politically-torn, and disease-ridden Zimbabwe, told as if the reader were sitting and listening to neighbors and friends talking about life. Some stories are tender, even comic; in others, tragedy and outrage lurk. The stories share a common thread, a noble stance in the struggle to find love, freedom, justice, completeness, and satisfaction.
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Harare North (by Brian Chikwava)
$12.55
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In an astonishing, revelatory original debut, Caine Prize for African Writing winner Brian Chikwava tackles head-on the realities of life as a refugee When he lands in Harare North, our unnamed protagonist carries nothing but a cardboard suitcase full of memories and an email address for his childhood friend, Shingi. Finessing his way through immigration, he spends a few restless weeks as the very unwelcome guest in his cousin's home before tracking down Shingi in a squat. This shocking, powerful first novel is the story of a stranger in a strange land--one of the thousands of illegal Zimbabwean immigrants seeking a better life--with a past he is determined to hide. From the first line the language fizzes with energy, humor, and not a little menace. As he struggles to make his life in London (the "Harare North" of the title) and battles with the weight of what he has left behind in a strife-torn Zimbabwe, every expectation and preconception is turned on its head. The inhabitants of the squat function at various levels of desperation: Shingi struggles to find meaningful work and to meet the demands of his family back home; Tsitsi makes a living renting out her baby to women defrauding Social Services; Alex claims to have an important job in Croydon. Fearlessly political, laugh-out-loud funny, and with an anti-hero whose voice is impossible to forget, this novel is an arresting account of London as it is experienced by Africa's dispossessed.
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The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris (by Leïla Marouane)
$15.00
Leila Marouane’s fifth novel, The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris, is by many aspects, a radical shift in the author’s work. The novel’s central character is a man: Mohamed Ben Mokhtar – or Basile Tocquard as he oddly re-baptised himself; a middle-manager banker in his forties, full of self-confidence. Ben Mokhtar is a second-generation Algerian immigrant, something you would barely notice since he takes great care to whiten his skin and straighten his hair.
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